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Nilgiri Langur

Bedtime stories for kids in kerala has a poignant one of a monkey which tries hard to escape a hunter and fails. Finally spying him aim, it quickly joins its palms together in a prayer for mercy, the hunter a bit late in realizing the gesture pulls the trigger and repents his action for the rest of his life. The realty of this land is that for every one hunter who repents there will be a thousand who will pull that trigger many times more without even a hint of remorse. The current distribution and population of the Niligiri langur will corroborate this beyond doubt.

It is perhaps the most hunted amongst the monkey species of India and continues to be even today. I had come across hard evidence of this even in 2008 in more places than one across the lower ranges of the western ghats.

Karinkorongu Rasayanam a well known traditional medicinal syrup made form the body parts of this creature is one of the chief culprits. It is supposed to cure everything from Asthma to Arthritis and is very much in demand. Karinkorong translates to black monkey in Malayalam. Habitat destruction is of course another major threat.